The banana is a fruit very perishable because of its high respiration rate. The postharvest storage technical that slow down the respiration rate, retard the ripeness and prevent physiological disorders of the products permits the quality maintenance of horticultural crops. The goal of this work was to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of O2 and CO2, combined with refrigeration, on quality and shelf-life of 'Prata Anã' banana during 30, 35 and 40 days of storage. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomly design at Embrapa Agroindústria de Alimentos EMBRAPA. Fruits at maturation stage or color 2 (mature green) were stored at 12,5ºC (±0,5ºC), relative humidity 98% (±1,0%) and submitted to different conditions of controlled atmosphere (CA) control (normal atmosphere); 2kPa de O2 + 4kPa de CO2 (2/4); 3kPa de O2 + 7kPa de CO2 (3/7) and 4kPa de O2 + 10kPa de CO2 (4/10). The fruits submitted to CA 2/4 and 3/7 did not develop the color 7 at 40 days of storage, whereas control fruits and under CA 4/10 spent 24 and 32 days to develop the color up to maturation stage 7, respectively. The mass loss and pulp/peel ratio were lower in the fruits under CA. There was retention of starch and total soluble sugars in the fruits under CA, mainly in those under 2/4 and 3/7 treatments over the storage period. The CA was efficient in extend of the shelf life of 'Prata Anã' banana based in those variables.
Musa spp.; storage; refrigeration; quality; atmospheric control
